Catheter assembly



April 4, 1964 H. M. SCISLOWICZ 3,128,769

CATHETER ASSEMBLY Filed July 25, 1962 INVENTQR JEemy Wzkwwzc United States Patent s,12s,7s9 CATHETER ASSEMBLY Henry M. Scislowicz, Lake Bluff, 111., assignor to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 23, 1962, Ser. No. 211,504 1 Claim. (Cl. 128348) This invention relates to a catheter assembly and in particular it relates to a catheter assembly which is particularly useful in supplying a medicament at a place along an artery, a vein or the like. It is to be understood, of course, that the catheter assembly of the invention is not limited to this use.

It has been found necessary at times to inject a medicament along the path of an artery for example at a site substantially removed from the site at which the catheter assembly enters the body of the patient. For this purpose catheters of various lengths have been employed, the length being mainly dependent upon the distance in the artery along which the catheter assembly is required to extend. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a catheter assembly which includes a longitudinally extending tubular catheter having a closed, rounded, distal terminal end with at least one aperture being disposed in the catheter at the distal marginal end of the catheter. A semi-rigid stiffener extends longitudinally of a passage in the catheter to a place between the rounded, distal, terminal end and the aperture. This construction renders the catheter somewhat more rigid than in the case where no stiffener is employed. With a stiffener there is no difficulty in inserting the catheter into an artery for example. The stiffener is removable so that a medicament may be injected through the passage of the catheter and out of the aperture or apertures at the distal marginal end of the catheter. The movement of the stiffener with respect to the catheter is limited so that the stiffener does not puncture the closed, rounded, distal terminal end of the catheter. More specifically, the stiffener is releasably locked against movement relative to the catheter so that the stiffener will not puncture the closed, rounded, distal terminal end of the catheter.

It is one of the purposes of the invention to provide a catheter assembly which is dependable, safe, effective and economical to manufacture.

It is another purpose of the invention to provide a catheter assembly which obviates the danger of the stiffener penetrating the catheter and consequently possibly injuring the artery for example.

In the diagrammatic, illustrative drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation View of the catheter assembly of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side elevational view, mainly in cross-section and partly broken away, of the catheter assembly of the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a fragmentary portion of the catheter with the stiffener removed therefrom and shaowing a hypodermic syringe in a position whereby a medicament is adapted to be injected through the catheter; and

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view of a patient showing a manner in which the catheter assembly of the invention is adapted to be employed.

Referring now to FIGURES, 1, 2 and 3 of the illustrative drawing, there is shown a catheter assembly generally indicated at 10. The catheter assembly of the invention is shown to include a catheter 11 which is composed of a flexible plastic material. The catheter 11 is shown to have a closed, rounded, distal terminal end 12 and an open proximal terminal end 13. At the distal marginal end 14 of the catheter 11 there are shown to be provided a pair of aligned apertures 15 and 16 at a place spaced from the closed, rounded, distal terminal end of the catheter 11. Spaced from and at about right angles to the apertures 15 and 16 there are shown a pair of aligned apertures 17 and 18.

The catheter 11 is shown to be provided with a longitudinally extending passage 19 which terminates at the closed, rounded, distal terminal end 12. Disposed in the passage 19 is a semi-rigid, resilient stiffener 20 which extends from beyond the proximal terminal end 13 to between the apertures 15 and 16 and the distal terminal end 12 of the catheter 11. It is preferred to terrm'nate the stiffener at the place above described and shown in FIGURE 2 of the illustrative drawing so that a rounded distal terminal end 21 of the stiffener 241 cannot puncture the closed, rounded, distal terminal end 12 of the catheter 11. Since the catheter 11 may compress slightly due to the resistance encountered along the artery, vein or the like, the rounded, distal terminal end of the stiffener 2i terminates a safe distance short of the closed, rounded, distal terminal end 12 of the catheter 11. It has been found that terminating the rounded distal terminal end of the stiffener 20 approximately midway between the apertures 15 and 16 and the closed, rounded, distal terminal end 12 of the catheter 11 provides a fully adequate margin of safety in this regard. In order to prevent the stiffener 20 from moving relative to the catheter 11 once the stiffener 20 is positioned as shown in FIGURE 2 of the illustrative drawing, a construction is provided which will effectively limit this movement. There is shown in FIGURE 2 of the illustrative drawing a connector 22. The proximal marginal end 23 of the stiffener 219 is shown to be inversely bent so that the proximal terminal end 20a of the stiffener 20 embeds itself permanently into a Wall 24 of connector 22, and the bight portion 25 of the proximal marginal end 23 of the stiffener 20 rests against a dome-shaped portion 26 of the connector 22. The proximal terminal end 13 of the catheter 11 abuts the proximal marginal end 23 of the stiffener 2t) and is in frictional engagement with the wall 24 of the connector 22. Since the stiffener 20 is composed of a resilient material, the proximal terminal end 20a pushes against the wall 24 to urge the stiffener 241 against the catheter 11 over a length indicated at 23a. The frictional force between the stiffener 26 at 2311 and the catheter 11 and between the catheter 11 and the wall 24 of the connector 22 is alone sufficient to prevent relative movement between the stiffener 20 and the catheter 11. It is therefore readily apparent that not only is the stiffener 2!) limited in its movement with respect to the catheter 11 but the stiffener 20 is also releasably locked to the catheter 11 by the construction described above.

When it is desired to employ the catheter assembly 10 of the invention an incision is made in the body B of the patient shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 5 of the illustrative drawing. The catheter assembly 10 is advanced along an artery, a vein or the like until the apertures 15, 16, 17 and 18 reach the site at which the medicament is to be injected into the body B of the patient. In order to assist the user in determining the position of the catheter within the artery for example of the body B of the patient, the stiffener 20 is preferably composed of a material which is radiologically opaque for example stainless steel. When the site at which the medicament is to be injected into the patient has been found, the user grasps with one hand that portion 28 of the catheter 11 which extends exteriorly of the body B of the patient and grasps the connector 22 with the other hand, the connector 22 is then pulled relative to the catheter 11, thereby enabling the stiffener 26 to be entirely removed from within the passage 19 of the catheter 11. As the stiffener 20 is being removed, blood fills the passage 19 up to the proximal terminal end 13 of the stiffener 20 so the user will pinch the portion 28 of the catheter 11 before the stiifener 20 is completely removed to prevent blood from passing out of the passage 19 bu yond the proximal terminal end 13 of the catheter 11. A blunt-ended cannula 28 of a hypodermic syringe 29 is then snugly inserted into the passage 19. A medicament (not shown) is then injected by means of the hypo dermic syringe 29 through the catheter 11 into the artery for example of the patient. When it is desired to remove the catheter 11 from the patient, the catheter 11 is merely grasped by the user at the exterior portion 28 and withdrawn from the artery for example of the patient,

Although the stiffener 20 is described as being composed in the preferred embodiment of stainless steel, other semi-rigid materials such as nylon, high density polyethylene or the like are employable for this purpose. The catheter 11 is preferably composed of a plastic such as polyethylene, however, other plastics such as nylon, vinyl or the like are employable. The connector 22 is preferably composed of a plastic such as polyethylene which the proximal terminal end 24 of the stifiener 20 can penetrate slightly so as to embed itself firmly in the Wall 24 thereof.

The above-described embodiment being exemplary only, it is to be understood that modifications in form or detail are Within the purview of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited save as is consonant with the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

In a catheter assembly: a longitudinally extending tubular catheter having a closed, rounded distal end, a longitudinally extending passage defined by said catheter and terminating at said closed end, a plurality of spaced apertures defined by said catheter proximate the distal end thereof, a semi-rigid stiffener disposed in said passage, said stiffener having a rounded distal end disposed between said apertures and the distal end of said passage and a reversely directed proximal end portion extending beyond the proximal end of said catheter and a flexiblewalled hollow cap having an open end and overlying the proximal end portion of said catheter whereby the proximal end of said stiffener is imbedded in the inner wall of said cap and said proximal end portion of said stiffener resiliently biases the proximal end portion of said catheter against the inner wall of said cap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,118,631 Wappler May 24, 1938 2,393,003 Smith Jan. 15, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 331,453 Great Britain July 3, 1930 875,709 Germany May 4, 1953 885,917 Germany Aug. 10, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES U.S.C.I. Catalogue, copyright 1957, page 10. 

